The monarchs of France ruled, first as kings and later as emperors, from the Middle Ages to 1848. There is some disagreement as to when France came into existence. The earliest date would be the establishment of the MerovingianFrankish kingdom by Clovis I in 486 with the defeat of Syagrius, the last Roman official in Gaul. That kingdom's rulers were deposed in the 8th century. The Treaty of Verdun established the Kingdom of Western Francia in 843. Another date favored by many medieval historians is 987, the beginning of the Capetian Dynasty.The Merovingians did not rule France per se but ruled lands that were continually fluctuating between modern day France and Germany.
However, the relevance of such traditional outlooks on the origins of modern nations is historically dubious (see below for recent studies). In light of these recent trends, this list begins with the creation in 843 of Charles the Bald's Kingdom of Western Francia, the state which would directly evolve into modern France. For earlier Frankish monarchs, see List of Frankish Kings.
In addition to the monarchs listed below, the Kings of England and Great Britain from 1422 to 1801 also claimed the title of King of France. For a short time this had some basis in fact - under the terms of the 1420Treaty of Troyes, Charles VI had recognized his son-in-law Henry V of England as regent and heir. After the death of the two, Henry VI, succeeded his grandfather as King of France. Most of Northern France was under English control until 1435, but by 1453 the English had been expelled from all of France save Calais (and the Channel Islands), and Calais itself fell in 1558. Nevertheless, English monarchs continued to claim the title until the creation of the United Kingdom in 1801. Various English kings between 1337 and 1422 had also claimed the title of King of France, but only intermittently.
During the brief period when the French Constitution of 1791 was in effect (1791-1792), and after the July Revolution in 1830, the style "King of the French" was used instead of "King of France (and Navarre)". It was a constitutional innovation known as popular monarchy which linked the monarch's title to the people, not to the territory of France.
The name of France comes from the barabarian tribe known as the Franks. The Merovigian kings began as mere chieftains, the oldest known being Pharamond. Clovis I was the first of these to rise to true kinghood. After his death, his kingdom was split between his sons into Soissons (Neustria), Paris, Orleans (Burgundy), and Metz (Austrasia). Various other kingdoms would continue to break apart and be formed as the various Merovingian kings warred with each other.
The Carolingians overpowered the Merovingian kings. First they became their overlords (mayors of the palace) in Austrasia. Eventually, they united the entire Frankish kingdom for the first time since Clovis. With Mayor Pippin the Younger, the Merovingians were completely phased out. The Carolingian Dynasty would be the first of the true French monarchy. The great and extended kingdom of Pippin's son, the legendary Charlemagne, was split by Louis I (Louis the Pious). In 843, while Louis's son Lothair was in power, the great Frankish kingdom was split. The Eastern Kingdom became Germany, the Middle Kingdom became Lotharingia and later part of the Holy Roman Empire, and the Western Kingdom became France. Charles the Bald was the first ruler of the independent West Franks (France.)
The Capetian Dynasty, the male-line descendants of Hugh Capet ruled France continuously from 987 to 1792 and again from 1814 to 1848. The branches of the dynasty which ruled after 1328, however, are generally given the specific branch names of Valois and Bourbon.
Many people were monarchists at the time and consequently refused to recognise the overthrow of the monarchy, and considered Louis XVI's reign to have continued until his death in 1793, then his son Louis XVII to have reigned until his death in 1795, with Louis XVIII's reign then commencing, hence the numbering.
For a study of France and its rulers, see also: * Edward James, "The Origins of France: Clovis to the Capetians 500-1000." ISBN 0333270525 * Edward James, The Franks. Blackwell: 1991. ISBN 0631179364 *The history of France as recounted in the "Grandes Chroniques de France," and particularly in the personal copy produced for King Charles V between 1370 and 1380 that is the saga of the three great dynasties, the Merovingians, Carolingians, and the Capetian Rulers of France, that shaped the institutions and the frontiers of the realm. It should be noted that this work was commissioned at a time that France was embroiled in the Hundred Years' War with England, a war fought over hereditary claims to the throne of France. It must therefore be read with a careful eye toward biases meant to justify the Capetian claims of continuity and inheritance. The Cambridge Illustrated History of France - Cambridge University Press *Paul Fouracre and Richard A. Gerberding, Late Merovingian France: History and Hagiography, 640-720. Manchester University Press - ISBN 0719047919 *Patrick Geary, Before France and Germany: The Creation and Transformation of the Merovingian World. Oxford: Oxford U. Press, 1988. ISBN 0195044584 *Patrick Geary, The Myth of Nations: The Medieval Origins of Europe. Princeton U. Press, 2001. ISBN 0691114811
